


Reaper Man

by appending_fic



Series: Fire and Wonder [6]
Category: Coraline (2009), Danny Phantom, Gravity Falls, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Mystery Skulls Animated, ParaNorman (2012), The Booth at the End
Genre: Action/Adventure, Other, Post-Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-25
Updated: 2016-05-05
Packaged: 2018-06-04 10:39:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6654718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/appending_fic/pseuds/appending_fic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The world is dying by inches, but some people aren't going to let that happen.</p><p>There's a city of the dead in Australia, and a reaper walking the Outback.</p><p>Can a group of mortals face down the Chimera Death and save the living *and* the dead from her cruel scythe?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Discord dropped lightly onto the grass, wiggling his toes in the dirt. The place looked nice - not as bright as Equestria, but he'd yet to see a world that could match the vibrancy of his adopted world. He took a careful look around, and, finding no other living creature, stretched and fell down onto his back.

The plan had seemed like a good idea when he'd come up with it, but now, on a strange world likely inhabited by thousands of Chimerae and the direct progeny of Chaos herself, well…

He was just one little Draconequus, hardly a match for one of the Cipher siblings, much less all of them.

"Ahem."

Discord swiveled his head around; at about eye level, a black cat was scowling at him.

"Yes?"

"You're sitting in my spot."

"It wasn't marked."

"It didn't strike me that it needed to be." The cat sauntered over and clambered up Discord's side, turned in a circle a few times, and settled on his chest. "It's a distant second, but it'll have to do."

Discord bent his head around. "You're not as terrified as I'd expect you to be, what with the Chimerae running hellbent all over the place."

The cat lifted its head and fixed Discord with a glare, something that struck him as intensely familiar… "I've never been frightened of a Chimera in my life, and I'm not about to start now." It smiled suddenly, all teeth, clearly intending to be intimidating. "After all, I know your _real_ name - the name of your voice."

The pieces suddenly snapped into place. "What are _you_ doing here? I thought you were _dead_!"

The thing in the shape of a cat yawned, stretching out its claws. "In Bill's view, I might as well be. But he's always had such a limited view of things, wouldn't you agree?"

"I...I suppose so. But what are you _doing_ here? Does Bill know you're here?"

"Of course he does. But I don't think he recognizes me; he's never struck me as all that bright."

"You're avoiding the question."

The cat dropped its head onto its paws. "Toying with him, mostly. There's a kid out here I've run into a couple of times, trying to help her. Very resourceful."

"You know he's back. Trying to fight the Old War."

"Trying to win it," the cat corrected. "Now that the Old Gods have passed, he thinks nothing in the world can stand up against him."

"Is there anything that can? He was always the strongest of all of them. Almost as powerful as Chaos…"

"Not even _close_. But yes, it's a concern. Now, I've some thoughts on that, but first, I need to see if he's up to what I think he is. And _you've_ got to find someone for me…"


	2. Chapter 2

By Mabel's best reckoning, it was just about midnight, time for third watch. Wendy had, luckily, taught her how to read the stars before the world ended. It was still an inexact science, made worse by the fact that stars seemed to wink in and out of existence at random.

Still, third watch. She glanced at Norman, wrapped up in his blanket, facing away from the fire as he huddled in on himself. She made an executive decision that he needed sleep more than she did. It was mostly true, anyway. Mabel had found herself needing less and less sleep as time went on; the few hours she'd had during first watch seemed almost luxurious.

And besides, he didn't need any more stress. He had confided in them that he couldn't sense any spirits around them, and their continued absence weighed on him. The last time he'd been in a place like that, Bill Cipher had possessed him and nearly led an army of ghosts to take over the world or something like that.

Losing Dipper on top of that...well, it'd make anyone despondent.

Dipper'd vanished somewhere during the panic when they'd fled Mount Rushmore, shortly before Mabel had met Vivi and Arthur. They’d run into Norman almost by accident, Mabel herself following vague feelings she’d thought were guiding her toward Dipper. But the feeling faded after they found Norman, even though Mabel knew Dipper was still alive somewhere. Norman seemed less than comforted by Mabel’s certainty, probably explaining his chronic sleeplessness - or at least a part of it.

The rest of it…

Norman shifted in his sleep, murmuring softly. Mabel relaxed when he didn’t move further. It was common now for Norman to wake in the middle of the night, babbling about dark visions of their new world. It had helped them escape California hours before all of the latent imagination sloshing around Hollywood had awoken into a poorly-scripted massacre. It had led them from island to island until they’d reached Australia, to hunt down the Reaper.

He saw more than he shared with them, she knew. Visions seemed to have lodged in his unconscious, urging him to direct their little band through odd, winding paths through the outback. Mabel didn't know if he was helping them avoid danger or if the path was simply meandering on its own, but it was bringing them closer to...something. 

A dark shape loomed from the darkness; Mabel started, grabbing at the large walking stick she'd nominally accepted as a form of self-defense. Even given the new world, she was hesitant to hurt anyone.

The shape let out a quiet yip. Mabel relaxed marginally as the shape clarified into the silhouette of Mystery, Vivi's...'dog'.

Mystery was almost perpetually cheerful, except in the few cases they'd drawn close to real dangers. He'd warned them against even approaching Sydney, pushing them into the outback almost immediately on arriving in Australia. They'd seen the fires that night, heard the cries of Chimerae crowing over the destruction they'd wrought.

But for all Mystery was useful, he wasn't all he seemed, and for that, left Mabel perpetually on edge around him.

"What's going on?" she asked. Dipper had suggested once or twice that he could talk to animals, and while Mabel had never been able to do anything similar, Mystery had always seemed the sort that could talk if he wanted to.

Mystery turned in a careful circle and paused to stare out into the night.

"What? Is something out there?"

The dog whuffed once, a low, warning sound, and Mabel raised her stick carefully. She'd joked about using her powers to put people out of commission without hurting them, but if the choice came to trying an untested power and the stick...well, she'd reconsider her desire to avoid violence.

"A person? Or something else?"

Mystery tilted his head, considering, for several moments. At last he let out two 'whuffs', although the second was hesitant. So it was something Mystery couldn't quite say was human. Mabel grimaced.

She could certainly yell out there, but there was another option available only to Mabel. Closing her eyes, she strained metaphorical muscles, squinting at the ether with non-existent eyes to look for whatever it was that was stalking them.

What she found were three minds, two nervous and definitely human, the third...dulled and hard to see, like she was looking at someone through fogged glass. Mabel tried to squint a little harder, but felt a sudden shift in the mind she was examining. The sensation was familiar, of someone waking up or becoming aware-

"Everyone get up!" Mabel shouted. The time for subtlety was over, or at least Mabel was done spending energy to try and avoid people, even if they turned out to be monsters.

Norman was on his feet before even Mystery could stand from where he'd sat. Arthur moved more deliberately, and Vivi only half-rose as she stared into the night. Mabel readied herself to face whatever waited for them out there, listening to the quiet rustling of their movement...

A pale figure stumbled into view. Green eyes gleamed amidst a face framed by white hair; Mabel almost turned to ask Norman why she could see the spirit in front of them before she recognized it.

" _Danny_?"

His form shifted, hair going black and eyes blue and the almost aura around him fading. "You're Dipper's sister - Mabel, right?"

"Yes!" Mabel swept in for a hug; Danny weathered it awkwardly until Mabel let him go. "What are you doing out here?"

Danny glanced back, giving Mabel a chance to see his companions, one a dark-skinned boy who seemed possibly over-packed for even the wasteland of the outback, and a girl paler than even Danny. She was giving Mabel a narrow, suspicious glare, so Manel waved cheerfully at her.

Some sort of silent communication traveled between the trio; Mabel pointedly didn't pay attention to let them have their privacy.

At last, Danny sighed. "It's...complicated. There's someone out here building some sort of ghost kingdom. Even if it weren't for..."

"The Apocalypse," Mabel supplied helpfully.

"Even if it weren't for that, it'd be something to worry about. Now?" He shrugged. "I figured I should be doing what I can to keep things from getting worse, so...we're here to deal with whoever's behind this."

"You're going to fight Death?" Arthur looked shaken by the prospect, even though he'd agreed with Mabel they needed to get rid of the Chimera. Maybe having four other targets made him feel more comfortable.

"If that's who's behind this, yeah. I wouldn't put it past Vlad to be taking this opportunity to build up an empire, though." Danny’s eyes were narrow, his face grim in the dim light of their fire. “We have to stop this, though.”

Something in Danny’s expression worried Mabel. Dipper had told her all about his first meeting with the half-ghost, how Danny had betrayed Dipper and, indirectly, Mabel herself, in order to save his friends from Death. So he had a history of acting irrationally when it came to Death, and a clear willingness to let others get hurt along the way.

She glanced sidelong at Norman, who didn’t know the whole story, only to find he looked worried as well, forehead wrinkled thoughtfully. She wondered what he saw when he looked at Danny, if the ghost-ness overlaid his form or something weirder. Whatever he saw, he didn’t like, and that meant they were going to have to be very careful.

“Well, sounds like as good a plan as any! I was just letting Norman lead us around, but kicking some ghost tuckus sounds cool. You mind sticking around until dawn?”

Danny bit his lip, glancing at his friends (Tucker and...Sam, Mabel recalled). There was a conference going on, something about Mabel or Norman that they thought would interfere in their plans. Danny wanted them out of the way, Tucker was torn, and Sam…

It was rude to eavesdrop like that, but one look at Norman had told her this was where they were meant to go, and that meant she needed every trick at her disposal.

“How are you planning to stop Death? I’d be willing to bet my eyes you’re still not serene enough to deserve the Brahmastra, and I’m pretty sure whatever trick you pulled off to defeat her last time relied on her still residing in another universe.” Danny and his friends jerked away at Norman’s unexpected voice. He steadily rose to his feet, watching the three impassively. Apparently, Dipper _had_ shared the entire story, and, while unwilling to get angry about it, was perfectly happy to use it to remind Danny how he'd once condemned Norman to death due to poor planning.

Norman held their gaze for a long, quiet minute before Danny shook his head. “Well, she’s really here now, so I figured I could find a way to manage.”

Norman began chuckling. “Oh, man. I’m used to Dipper going off half-cocked, but this is something else. Do you remember what happened at Mount Rushmore? They _wiped the floor with us_. Unless you picked up a new trick since then and now, you’re not going to stand a chance.”

“Have you?” Sam retorted, leaning toward Norman. “I don’t recall your medium powers contributing much to the last fight.”

Norman rolled his eyes. “I wasn’t trying to get into a pissing match. I was trying to point out that you need an edge in this fight, and I can give it to you.” He shot a glance at Sam, smiling slightly. “And, as a matter of fact, I did pick up some new tricks in about the last ten seconds of that fight.”

Sam looked like she wanted to keep going, but then Danny stepped in.

“Yeah, having a plan sounds better than...whatever I was going to do. So what’s our ace in the hole?”

“Nuh-uh, Norman needs his sleep.” Mabel shoved Norman down and grinned at Danny and his friends. “Why don’t you try to get some sleep, too?”

Mabel wasn't ashamed to admit she put a little tendril of power, a little 'master of the mental arts', into the suggestion. They all needed sleep, and Mabel needed a little while to think by herself. It was easier to ignore their thoughts when they were asleep, cocooned in the bubbles of their dreams. 

Mabel took a deep breath. It had been a few days since she last tried; she tried not to do it every night, but a few days was long enough. After the first time, she'd taken to trying this at night. She closed her eyes and let her mind skate across the lines of ether that crossed the sky, a single thought guiding her movement.

_Dipper_.

She made contact, briefly, with a familiar thought, somewhere in Delirium's realm. After a moment, as always, she was rebuffed, pushed away and back into her own mind. Once her head stopped spinning, Mabel let the tears fall. Every time she tried this, she hoped that Dipper would recognize her and let her in. And every time...

"Why would he be avoiding _me_?"

\---------

Norman was up far earlier than Mabel would have liked, and that drew everyone else into activity, and eventually to their morning strategy meeting.

Danny scowled from the moment he woke up until Norman explained what he intended to do, and then he stared at Mabel with wide eyes. He didn't look irritated or disbelieving; Mabel didn't need her powers to see the wavering uncertainty, the vulnerable _hope_ in Danny's expression.

"Can he really do that?"

Mabel wasn't certain, wasn't sure, but Norman had done some impressive things before the Apocalypse, which had awoken new power in all of them. And he was far more cautious than any Pine, unwilling to move unless he was certain of himself.

"You bet your incorporeal butt he can!"

Danny let his breath go, an explosive huff. "Wow. We might actually have a shot."

"Presuming we can find where Death's hiding out," Sam muttered.

"Norman's been following some sort of necrotic trail since we got here," Vivi retorted. "If Death's got a city of the dead, it's at the other end of that."

"Huh." Sam mulled that over for a moment. "Better than any plan we got, especially since we haven't seen a single ghost in this entire godforsaken continent."

"You too, huh? I guess they're all running to Death's kingdom."

"Yeah..."

Danny's response worried Mabel. She studied them as they traveled, and she became more and more convinced that Danny didn't believe they were going to find Death behind this. There was less passion about this than she'd expect from him, more...resignation.

She couldn't piece it all together, and that meant there was only one way to figure everything out.

Luckily, it was something she was good at.

"So, you met Death before all this. What's she like? Spooky?"

Tucker shuddered. "Creepy as all get-out. We never saw what she looked like, cause she always wore this black cloak."

"The few ghosts that could tell us anything about her said she never talked, but she was really chatty with you, Danny."

Danny shrugged. "Yeah. I think she thought I wasn't taking her seriously, wanted to up her scare factor."

"And she could kill ghosts?"

"Worse than that. She said she created the Ghost Zone. She could wipe the place out if she wanted."

"Wait - are you talking about the ectoplasmic dimension?" When Danny nodded, Vivi shook her head. "Then she could have killed you at any point during your confrontation, Danny. Destroying the ectoplasmic dimension would have a devastating effect on any entity whose structure relies on ectoplasm. Even someone who's half-ghost-"

"No," Danny said quietly. "It wouldn't kill me. But it would have made me helpless. She _could_ have killed me! Why didn't she? She let me beat her-"

"Bill Cipher did that. When I overpowered him in the dreamscape, he let us go. When you kicked him out of your head, Norman."

"It's some sort of test," Arthur whispered. "They wanted to see...something in us. None of us were a threat to them, so they let us live."

"Well, now we're going to make them regret it," Mabel growled. "Danny, you said Death made the Ghost Zone. Did she have a city or kingdom in there?"

"No!" Danny snapped. "I think she liked being by herself. That's why she had the scythe, so if anyone bothered her she could kill them as much as possible. That's why none of this makes sense. Why would she be building a city if she doesn't want company?"

"We're going to find out pretty soon," Norman said. When everyone turned to him, he pointed north.

It was like something out of - no, it pretty much was Emerald City, from the Wizard of Oz. Sparkling towers rose from a mass of crystalline buildings, all wreathed in an emerald aura. There was movement along the edges of the thirty-foot walls, and on the outsides of the towers. Mabel tried to estimate how many ghosts must be inside the city. Thousands, tens of thousands, maybe even millions.

"Holy limbo, Batman," she whispered.

She glanced sidelong at Danny, and he didn't look happy. He'd clenched his jaw and his eyes were glowing green.

"Danny?"

"I'm going ghost!" His skin paled and hair went white, and then he was soaring through the air toward the distant city.

"Danny, the plan!" Danny, though, was heedless of Mabel's protest, over a hundred yards away and accelerating. She whirled on Sam and Tucker. "What is _wrong_ with him? We had a plan to deal with Death, and now he's running off like - I don't even know!"

Sam sighed; Mabel could feel the resignation in her head. "He never really thought it was Death. We didn't really mean to run into you, but..." She shrugged.

"This place really needs to be dealt with," Tucker added, waving his hand at the city swarming with ghosts. "Look at it!"

"It's amazing," Vivi breathed, her eyes practically shining as she took in the glittering metropolis.

"It's got Vlad Plasmius written all over it." Mabel looked over at Sam. "Metaphorically."

"Running off on his own is still a really dumb idea. Ghosts are really dangerous, especially if you have no idea who you're dealing with."

Norman nodded at Arthur's pronouncement. "Even if you _do_ know who you're dealing with."

Mabel tried to repress her sigh. Dumb boys were going to get her killed one day. "Well, this just changed into a rescue mission. First step: reconnaissance!"

"How are we going to do that? Danny's the only one who's any good at sneaking around."

Mabel couldn't actually repress the urge to roll her eyes. She pointed at Norman with both hands in a smooth gesture. "Voila. Norman Babcock, Ghost Whisperer."

It took the better half of a day to actually reach the city. It was hard to tell if Danny had actually reached it; half a mile from them, he'd faded from view, and none of them were familiar enough with the city to tell if any change in the patterns of hustle meant an intruder.

As they drew closer, Norman seemed to become distressed. His forehead wrinkled and he grew taciturn, eventually responding to questions with little more than grunts.

Mabel demanded a stop about a quarter-mile away from the city. "Norman, what's up?"

"There's so many," he whispered.

"I thought you liked ghosts," Arthur said. "They don't hurt you, do they?"

Norman shook his head minimally, but even that slight movement seemed to cause him pain. "You don't understand. They're all so _frightened_."

"Fuck, Danny!" Sam broke into a run, Tucker only a few steps after her. Mabel shrugged at her companions and followed a shade more sedately. They were close enough to see the guards at the base of the twenty-foot-high gates that marked the entrance to the city. She doubted Sam or Tucker were getting inside anytime soon, at least not without Norman's help.

Indeed, Sam was shouting at what seemed to be the ghost of some Aboriginal warrior when they drew closer. Mabel nudged Norman, and he seemed to transform. He wasn't asocial, really, but he didn't easily take center stage. As he approached the two ghosts at the gate, however, he stood taller, took a wider, more confident stride, and the frown of pain on his face gave way to a broad smile.

"Hey! How are you doing? I'm Norman."

The aboriginal and the other ghost, a stocky woman in heavy armor of indeterminate period, looked askance at Norman even as Sam continued to shout.

Norman stepped up behind Sam and patted her shoulder. "Hey, calm down. I got this." He looked back up at the guards. "Sorry about my friend; she's a little worked up because her friend's probably in trouble. Have you seen him? Half-ghost, white hair, green eyes?"

The woman's flat eyes narrowed. "Such a person tried to assassinate the Prime Minister."

"Oh." Mabel wanted to hit her head against something, but she suspected any quick movement was going to startle the guards into action. "I suppose you'd like to take us somewhere and ask us some questions."

"What?"

Norman spread his arms. "We really don't mean any harm, but I'm sure you want to make sure we aren't a threat, either. I just wanted to make sure you know we'd be happy to cooperate."

Mabel stared, as everyone else did. She'd never thought that Norman was the - the Mabel of the underworld. The ghosts were holding a hurried, whispered conversation. Norman had probably gone off-script, and guards never quite knew what to do when people didn't act the way they were supposed to.

At long last they both turned back to the group, straightening to their full height. "The Prime Minister will want to question you," the man intoned. "You will surrender your weapons and we will escort you to a hall for your hearing."

"Sure!" Norman flipped a Swiss Army Knife out of his pocket and handed it to the man. Then he looked back at the rest of them, still smiling. "Everyone?"

They surrendered their small and improvised weapons to the guards. The others seemed somewhat in a daze, born in part from the fact, Mabel was sure, that Norman seemed to be in charge despite the fact that he was technically in custody of a hostile power.

The guards swung open the heavy doors with little ceremony, and led them into what Mabel was going to call Emerald City until she got a different name.

"What do you call this place?"

"Elysium," the woman said. Behind them, a pair of ghosts drifted down from the wall to take their place at the gate.

"Neat! It's really pretty." Indeed, the crystal buildings were more impressive up close. Mabel wasn't sure if they were ectoplasm or something else, but the color tinted everything a pretty shade of green. The layout and buildings themselves had a strangely grown appearance, like rock candy. "Where are we headed? Is it that big palace thing?" The central tower of the city rose high over everything else, dotted with spires and sub-towers to create a massive structure that put every other building to shame.

"That is the library. No, we are headed to the Parliamentary offices."

"That doesn't sound like Vlad," Sam murmured. It didn't sound like Death either, Mabel mused. It meant they were dealing with a complete unknown, at that meant they were going to have to rely on Norman's talents to keep them out of trouble.

The Parliamentary offices turned out to be a low, long building filled with several dozen tiny offices and several large chambers, one of which the guards escorted them into. Some twenty ghosts sat at a long bench on one side of the room, which despite the crystalline building materials, looked like something out of every stereotypical council chamber Mabel had ever seen, with only the ghosts' heads visible over the rail, and a single, tall central dais raised in front of it. At that dais sat a tall, imposing ghost, a skeleton dressed in an impeccably clean suit matched peculiarly with a pink tie. It wore pink hair shaped into a pompadour. Its eyes, pink, widened at the sight of them, and behind her, Mabel heard a gasp from Arthur.

"Oh, no," Vivi said.

"You!" the skeletal ghost howled, pointing at Arthur, who took the opportunity to cower behind Vivi. "Let them rot with the ghost boy!"

He whirled away from the dais and stalked from the chamber, taking a door at the far end. The other ghosts murmured worryingly before one rose minimally.

"You heard the Prime Minister. Take them down to the dungeons."

The dungeons were not quite as dismal as they sounded; they were little more than small, unfurnished rooms. Mabel decided the ghosts had likely not expected needing jail cells. Danny was glowering in the corner of their cell, although when he saw Sam and Tucker, he made a quiet, pained noise in his throat.

“Okay, so a few little kinks in the plan,” Mabel announced. “Arthur, what’s going on with the Prime Minister?”

Arthur had dropped to ground the moment he’d entered the room; he gave Mabel a wide-eyed look, hands folded beneath him. Vivi’s hands fluttered about his shoulder, uncertain whether to give it a reassuring pat or to leave him alone.

“I didn’t mean to - I don’t know anymore if I believe what he told me about it or not. But Desire - the Chimera - did something to my head. He made me think - I thought I wanted Lewis dead. And Desire helped make that happen.”

“Oh, Arthur.” Mabel couldn’t help it; this situation called for a hug. So she grabbed the older boy in a stranglehold of a hug. “It’s not - it’s not okay, but I’ll figure something out, I promise!”

“How are you going to do that?” Danny demanded. “We’re in ghost jail, being held by a guy with a personal vendetta against two of us-”

“Two? What did you do to piss him off?”

Danny shrugged at Sam, cheeks reddening. “I thought he was Vlad.”

“Never mind!” Mabel turned to the door and took a deep breath to center herself. “It doesn’t matter what challenges stand in my way. I am a Pines. We may technically know the meaning of the word ‘impossible’, but we also ignore everything we don’t want to hear.”

Something happened then, a shift in the air that made it feel almost viscous. Norman began to choke behind her. She shifted enough to see him on his knees, struggling as if he were trying to keep from vomiting.

“Norman?”

“She’s...coming.”

The others shivered as they realized Norman could only be sensing the presence of Death. Mabel, however, had no time for panicking. They had a plan, and that plan would be easier put into place outside of prison.

She rapped on the door of their little cell, and shouted, "Hey! Get over here!"

"Quiet in there!"

"I just wanted to let you know that if you planned to kill us, you can just throw us outside when Death gets here."

"Wait, what?"

"I just thought I'd save you the trouble of killing us yourselves."

A squat man in an ill-fitting Confederate uniform burst through the door. He tugged at his handlebar mustache as he glowered at Mabel.

"Stop talking nonsense. Death doesn't come here-"

"She hasn't," Norman rasped. "But she is now. She's an hour away - maybe less."

The ghost shook his head. "Impossible! Lewis has been doing everything possible to keep her away!"

The confirmation of what Danny had been hinting at - that the ghosts might not be on Death's side - made Mabel grin. She patted the ghost's shoulder, accidentally brushing through him. "Then it's not working. I promise I wouldn't lie to you. But you can tell Lewis we've got a plan to get rid of her for good."

Mabel couldn't use her powers on the dead, but she'd found that aggressive friendliness and the appearance of helpfulness had a magic all their own. The ghost wavered for only a moment before he dashed back through the door and presumably back to Lewis.

She turned back to the others to find Danny glowering at her.

"What's wrong?"

Danny rolled his eyes. "Nothing, apparently. Even if Lewis bothers to listen to us, where is that going to leave us?"

"We're going to get our chance to beat Death."

"And get killed!"

Mabel shook her head at Danny. "No, we've still got our plan."

"And what good will that do? We couldn't even handle these ghosts - how long are we going to last against Death?"

"Together? As long as it takes!"

"An intriguing opinion but, sadly, one that rarely offers any succor against Death."

Mabel turned, keeping her face or hands from betraying her shock. She smiled at Lewis, the skeletal ghost Prime Minister. "I suppose you wonder why I've called you here."

"You want to bargain your way out of here. There's no chance. You should have come here crawling on your knees for absolution, not acting like you haven't a care in the world." He wasn't, Mabel realized, talking to her, instead gaze fixed on Arthur, who was cowering behind Mystery. "And you!" he shouted at Vivi, "Do you know what he did?"

Vivi nodded. 

"You treacherous c-"

" _Stop it_!" Norman stormed into the space between the ghost and Arthur, glowering at both. "Even if we didn't have bigger things to worry about, what are you trying to accomplish? Do you think shouting at him is going to make you feel better? Do you think hurting him will? Killing him? He did something terrible - no one here thinks different - but dropping everything to hurt him back is just going to make things worse. You've made an afterlife here; I don't think you really want to risk it just to wallow in the past."

Norman took a step back, shoulders falling, and Mabel realized he'd been holding Lewis back-

She primed herself for some sort of outburst, but Lewis just slumped forward, body drooping   
Iike a puppet with its strings cut. "And what sort of justice will there be, if I do not seize it?"

At that, Vivi stepped close and lifted Lewis' head. She was smiling gently. "Desire pushed Arthur to it, and because of that you stand ready to defeat Death."

"I'm not going to rest, not until I've made sure Desire won't hurt anyone ever again," Arthur added.

"So you see? Desire sowed the seeds of his own undoing in convincing Arthur to kill you. And, if you'll let us, Death's as well."

Lewis considered this for a tense, quiet minute, until he at last nodded. "What would you have us do?"

The plan wasn't much changed from before, even Danny offering his reluctant approval. Lewis' contribution of a thousand of his most warlike citizens helped create the illusion they were going to fight Death with an army. Mabel, however, had given them strict instructions not to risk themselves. They were a distraction, nothing more.

Norman grew noticeably more agitated, until he was all but vibrating from the stress of being so close to Death. Mabel risked a quiet moment to make sure he could hold it together, and he'd snorted derisively.

"Please. Dipper would push through with two broken legs. A few nerves aren't going to take me out."

And then it was time. Death was in sight, a sinuous figure wrapped in black ribbons and lace, a gothic chimera with a scythe clutched in one claw. The soldiers had amassed before the city, Mabel, Norman, and Danny at the head. Norman's attention was fixed on Death, while Danny seemed unable to look directly at her. Someone shoved past Mabel; her protest died when she saw it was Lewis.

"Um-"

"These are my people," Lewis growled. "If we should all be destroyed, it is my duty to be the first. And if we are all to be saved, it is my duty to stand witness."

"What can the harvest hope for, but the care of the reaper?" Mabel almost didn't hear Norman's mumbled words, except for the wind blowing them to her.

"Norman? Are you okay?"

"Sure. Just had an...odd thought. Go ahead, Mabel, it's your show."

Mabel stepped toward Death. The Chimera's red eyes gleamed like rubies, and a rainbow-black wing stretched away from a Monarch’s. Wrapped in black lace, she was like an angel reflected in a dark mirror.

“You’re beautiful.”

Death’s goat face twisted uncertainly. “Flattery will not save your life, mortal. We are Chimerae - the face of Chaos incarnate.”

“Well, then Chaos incarnate is beautiful! Like one of those twisty paintings with all the colors.” She stepped closer to Death, who stared at her with narrow eyes.

“You are strange, mortal. I thought you would be angry.”

Mabel shrugged. “I didn’t think it’d make you go away, so what would be the point? Instead, we get to sit here talking about how pretty you are.”

Death’s wings fluttered uncertainly as she took in Mabel. Surely she knew Mabel was more than she seemed, but she had little idea how to respond to Mabel’s relentless charm. “What do you hope to accomplish here?”

Mabel tried to hide her disappointment. She’d hoped, for a moment, that talking might…

Well, there was no helping it. “I was hoping I could convince you to leave everyone alone.”

Death laughed, her voice echoing across the outback. When she looked down, her goat-head was smiling, revealing pointier teeth than Mabel would have hoped. “How do you expect to make me leave? What power do you possess?”

“Do we have to force you to leave? Can’t we just...ask?”

Death shook her head, still smiling. “No. The First Generation walk the world again. Our destruction of the worlds of order is inevitable. We will not back down, not ever.”

“Then consider this your one warning,” Mabel replied, letting a hint of toothiness enter her smile. “Find a way to live with us, or get out of the multiverse.”

Death’s smile faded and she stilled, red eyes fixed on Mabel. “Then you will be the first to die.”

“No!”

Death’s arm had barely begun to move to raise her scythe when Norman shouted. He didn’t move, except, Mabel saw, for his hands clenched at his sides, but she could feel a sudden pressure as he focused on his power. There was no visible display of power, but Death stumbled back with a pained grunt. She was back on her feet and lunging toward Mabel in an instant, but then something caught her eye. She paused mid-strike.

“Impossible!”

Mabel turned back to Norman. He’d raised his hands in front of them, and cradled in them was an eerie tongue of purple flame. She felt a grin tug her lips up again.

“Nothing is impossible if you can imagine it - having control over ghosts - over souls - helps, of course.”

“He holds my power - all that gives me the right to claim the title of Death - in his hands,” Death hissed. “Now what? I can just kill him and take it back-”

“Don’t even try.” Next to Vivi, Mystery growled low in his throat as Arthur stepped up behind Norman. She nodded at Danny. “Go ahead.”

Danny, shaking, took a step forward. Death looked between him and Norman before she began to laugh again. “You will force this child to take my power in his hands? His hand shakes at the thought of it, even not knowing what he will sacrifice to take it! Oh, let me enlighten you. Even the power of one of the Lesser Brood will set you apart - but you are used to that, I am certain. But me - if you take my power, you will _burn_ with the power of death. It will consume you, draw your every thought to death and the dead. I remember you, Phantom - you struggle every day to retain some shred of your humanity. This will tear it from you, leave you nothing but a shell for the power of Death!"

She lunged forward and Danny lunged back. Mabel couldn't blame him; the way Death described it, stealing her power - or that of her siblings - would be like dying. But at the same time, she wanted to scream at Danny for abandoning them, for throwing aside the one chance they'd had-

"Then leave it to the Dead." A hand, bone-white but framed in pink fire, closed around the purple flame, before Death could reach it. Lewis, for his massive frame and height, just barely matched Death in size, but still managed to loom over her. "Your mind burned with thoughts of death and the dead, and you turned those thoughts to inflicting misery on them, on hastening death and destroying the dead. Everything must die, my lady, so we should seek what comfort we can. After all, what can the harvest hope for, but the care of the Reaper?"

As Lewis spoke, the fires around him grew, tongues of flame lashing out around him. The fire was cool to the touch, though, and didn't leave a mark. Death scurried away from the fire as it reached out to her. It was a novel experience, seeing such naked terror on a goat's face.

"You wouldn't dare kill me," she snarled. "I am Dream's favorite. And even if your godling stands with you, his fury would destroy you."

And wasn't that interesting, Mabel thought. Bill's siblings were afraid of him.

Lewis shook his head at Death. "I will not kill you. These children taught me that death is not the answer. It is an inevitability, and in the face of eternity, hastening it accomplishes nothing of import. Besides, I suspect being dragged down to their level will torment you enough."

He turned to the humans and Mystery, ignoring the helpless, angry expression on Death's goat face. Mabel glanced at them, trying to get a sense of what Lewis - the new Death - saw. Danny looked crushed, defeated, and his friends stood around him, wavering between relief and standing between Danny and the new Death. Norman was barely standing, a clear sign they'd seriously underestimated what ripping apart Death's soul would do to him. Vivi stood in front of a cowering Arthur, tears streaming from her eyes. And Mystery paced around the protectively.

"This will not stand," Death growled. "My brother-"

QUIET.

The words were not sound. They weren't telepathy, either. They were words carved into reality, something remembered but never heard. Lewis strode forward and grabbed the Chimera Death by the scruff of her neck. He shook her like a ragdoll.

GO. HIDE FROM THOSE WHO WOULD AVENGE THEMSELVES UPON YOU, OR RUN BACK TO YOUR SIBLINGS. JUST GET OUT OF MY SIGHT.

The Chimera Death did not waste a moment, taking to the air with uneven wing beats. Lewis turned away from her again, clearly certain she was no longer a threat. He stepped to Vivi and held his arms open. "I was harsh, earlier. I wish...things had been different."

Vivi laughed weakly. "Don't we all. But are - are you okay?"

"I am different. More than I was. Many things are clear now." He gave Arthur a glance. "Calm down, Art. I can see now that the...responsibility lies with Desire. And in the end, my death was necessary. The living cannot bear this power - only those who know the sting of death."

"But we're still going to be apart, aren't we?"

Lewis raised a flaming eyebrow. "Why? You may stay here with me, Vivi. Mystery, I believe, is also staying." Vivi gave the dog a startled look, and he nodded. "There are many things to be done. The Lesser Brood must be banished from this country. We must guard against their return. And the dead must be cared for. You were always my princess; now you can be my queen."

She glanced back at Arthur. He mouthed something, too subtly for Mabel to make out, and then Vivi launched herself at Lewis. He caught her in both arms, both of them wreathed in cool pink flames. Mystery yipped happily, and Mabel couldn't fight back her smile. Arthur, too, was grinning, a soft look in his eyes. His right hand, however, ran across the lines of his metal arm, reminding Mabel of his quest, and her own.

"Well, as much as I'd like to stay for the wedding of the century, we've got a job to do."

Lewis looked up, away from Vivi, and gave Mabel a curt nod. "Of course, my lady. Let us see what the Prime Minister of the Dead can do for you."

They left that night aboard a ghost ship that sailed through the outback like it was water, Mabel and Norman and Arthur standing together on the port side. Danny had seen fit to join the cleanup crew, to stay among the dead. Mabel kept her own counsel, and if the others thought he was taking penance for failing them, they didn't say so.

But she was certain, like her, they were primarily concerned with what lay ahead of them. Six greater Chimerae, rulers of nations poisoned by their touch, people they had lost and had yet to find, and the knowledge that unless they sought and found a way to kill the Chimerae, six people would have to give their lives to defeat them.

Mabel hadn't gotten to where she was, though, by being pessimistic. They'd already accomplished one impossible thing; six more would be a piece of cake.


	3. Chapter 3

In a cave deep beneath the outback, the Chimera called Death lay unmoving on a rock sitting in the middle of a babbling stream.

“Hey, sis!”

She pulled herself up to find her brother hovering above her, his badger’s teeth bared.

“Hello, Bill.”

“Man, they got you good, didn’t they?”

“Did you expect this, Bill?”

“Why do you think I tried to kill Eyeball off? Mind...I didn’t think he could rip the power out of you like that.” He tapped his chin thoughtfully with one of his talons. “But this wouldn’t be fun without a few surprises.”

“No offense, Bill, but I’m in no mood for company right now.”

“Oh, hey, I get that.” Bill drifted lower. “Feeling weak and vulnerable, wanting nothing more than to be left alone. But I needed to see you, sis.”

Death perked up. “Yes?”

“You see, even without your power, you’re important, sis. We’re part of something bigger than all of us! So I still need you.”

“Yes?”

“Well, not _all_ of you.” Bill’s grin went wide and wicked as he descended further. “A little warning: this is going to hurt. A lot.”


	4. Chapter 4

Before the world ended, there was a diner, in a small, American town. This diner was unremarkable in every way but one.

There was a man in the diner, who sat in the booth at the end. You could always find him there, sipping at a drink and writing in a small notebook. Day after day, people came into the diner and sat at the booth with him. They would speak with him a short time, and leave. Sometimes they would return. Sometimes they would return many times, pleading and crying while he remained impassive, making notes in his book.

And today, a man entered the diner. He waved at the hostess as he walked to the booth at the end, sitting down across from the man with the notebook.

“Stan Pines,” the man with the notebook murmured. “It’s good to finally meet you.” He set his notebook on the table, resting his hand on it, as he looked up. “Although most people don’t make appointments.”

“I needed to know you’d be here,” Stan said gruffly. “This is important.”

“It always is.”

“But before we start, I want to know exactly what I’m getting into here. There’s a lot of stories about this place, about you. They say you can give people anything they want.”

“Not exactly. People who come to me, they want something. I tell them something they can do to ensure their desires come to pass. I do not make it happen. What I tell you to do is not the only way to accomplish your goal, nor does failing to perform those actions prevent it from happening.”

Stan gave him a long, narrow-eyed look before nodding. “Okay. Then I’ve got something I want. I wanna get rid of Bill Cipher.”

The man sitting across from Stan choked on his coffee, nearly dropping the cup. He fumbled with his notebook, tugging it close to him. “What do you mean? There are ways to deny him access to the material plane, to prevent him from influencing your life-”

“I want him dead. I want there to be nothing in any world that will allow him to influence the life of any creature for the rest of eternity. If there’s a body, I want it dead. If there’s a spirit, I want it banished to whatever hell is reserved for the chimera. I want him _gone_.”

The man with the notebook shakily picked up the book and flipped through it. He spent some time looking through it; a waitress came by and took Stan's order for a chicken salad sandwich before the man with the notebook seemed to find his page.

“Okay. That can happen. But you’re going to have to go far, Mr. Pines. To make this happen, you’re going to need to go to another world, leave behind everyone who loves you without a word to them about it. When you come back, Mr. Pines, you’ll have to find me to tell me about it.”

“Thank you.” Stan pushed himself up from the booth, but paused before walking away. “Hey, I wanna know something. Is this going to be worth it?”

The man with the notebook took a deep breath and looked down at the book. “Mr. Pines, I can’t-”

“You know what he is. If you were me, what would you do to get rid of him?”

The man with the notebook swallowed nervously, lips parting a few times before he replied. “ _Anything_.”


End file.
